Provoked by a long string of vague references to valuable items moldering in the desert, I finally decided to actually wend my way all the way to Gunner's house. Takes some doing, even if you start out from Long Beach (where I was this past week). Up over the Grapevine from LA then hang a left in a coupla miles and trot out into a whole lot of nothing much for about 30 miles until you get there. He lives in Taft, California, which was once a booming little oil town but which was hit hard by a recent oil bust and which now is rather busting than booming.
You have to be a little careful where you put down something heavy in Gunner's back yard, because he has a soft spot for homeless cats, and one of them is very likely resting comfortably right where you want to put stuff down!
Gunner apparently makes the rounds of every machine shop in southern California, and if they let it go, it winds up in his back yard. He would make a fortune if he knew what he had, or if he could get to it. All I can say is, if you need a small mill or lathe or drill press or surface grinder or bench grinder or belt sander or electric motor or pulley or belt or servo motors or controllers or electrical controls or tooling or a nice sailboat that sleeps 4 or a windsurfing outfit (he has 2 available) or an older Volvo or an air compressor or any of a whole BOATLOAD more stuff like that, AND if you are down in the LA area and want a really fascinating day and PARTICULARLY if you have really long arms for reaching into 5'x5'x5' steel boxes to rummage around a bunch of 75 pound items, then you need to get to Gunner's back yard!
P.S. I found a very nice usable 3-phase transformer there and managed to get it into my brother's truck with only one narrow scrape with a little cat whose claim to fame is it has the same color scheme as Johnny Winter.
P.P.S. If you tell Gunner it's hot at his house (roughly like the sun side of Mercury) he will first snicker, then call you Mouldfoot, then offer you a Pepsi.
And if by some miracle Gunner doesn't have what you want he's a real good guy to let know what you're looking for, because he looks to me like someone who just might come up with it.
Thanks, Gunner!
Grant Erwin Mouldfoot from Kirkland, Washington